The present invention relates generally to mailing envelopes, and more particularly to mailing envelopes having one or more windows and having image-bearing sheet members (such as photographic slides or transparencies) mounted in one or more of those windows.
Typically, bulk mail advertisers utilize decorative envelopes in order to capture the addressees' attention and engender their interest in examining the contents of the envelope. Often disinterested addressees simply discard the mailings without even opening them. The need to attract consumer curiosity has led individuals to seek other creative methods to make their envelopes more inviting. One marketing technique could be derived from U.S. Pat. No. 2,256,399, which sets forth a picture-carrying post card. However, the card does not include a conventional mailing envelope pocket permitting the enclosure of articles. Moreover, the picture-carrying slide requires the post card to incorporate a frame in which to carry a lantern slide, which increases the cost of the post card's manufacture. Also, a combination envelope and cardboard picture frame is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,030, but the picture is enclosed within the interior of the envelope, hidden from view. Furthermore, the combination envelope and cardboard picture frame is not adapted to permit the recipient to see, while the envelope remains sealed, both the picture through an envelope window and a portion of the contents of the envelope through the picture. Other envelope marketing techniques incorporate illustrations on the paper surface of the envelope.
Bulk mailing envelopes commonly incorporate windows located at the portion of the envelope where the mailing address is to be displayed. This obviates the need of printing the recipients address on the envelope itself, since the address will instead be printed on materials inserted inside the envelope and situated to display the address in the window. Some mailing envelopes attach a clear or colored transparent plastic to the address display window. Other mailing envelopes incorporate windows covered with clear or colored transparent plastic to reveal other contents inside the envelope, for example, a sweepstakes greeting or number.
While illustrations and display windows are sometimes used to decorate a mailing envelope, the technique of mounting a detachable image-bearing sheet member on an envelope window has not been used.